In confirmation of this view, namely, that Jesus' teachino-, even in the Johannine Gospel, moved essentifuly in the region of knowledge accessible to spiritual i)erception acting on kinclred facts of
* Cf. Wendt, The Teaching} of Jesus, i. 256 ff., as well as his general conception of the relation between the Synoptic and the Johannine representations of Jesus' teaching.
t Cf. Hastings' DB iii. p. 9"- : ' Tlie conception of true re- ligion as the knowledge of God is probably the true antecedent and parent of some NT expressions for wliich affinities ha\e been sought in the phenomena of Gnosticism. John (6-") quotes Is 5413 ' (' All thy children shall be taught of the Lord ').
X Latham, op. cit. p. 17, observes that Jesus ' trusts to men's believing that the Father is in Him, not because He has de- clared it in set dogmas, but because He has been " so long with them."' This is part of His chosen method of teaching, to the most religious effect, in ^■iew of tlie nature of man as a 1)eing wliose spiritual faculties are to be evoked and trained freel}- and ethically.
experience, analogously to ordinary sense percep- tion, we have the idea of Jesus as ' the true and faithful witness' (Rev 1'' 31"*). Jesus 'witnesses' to His message in various asjiects ( Jn 3" 5^i 7'' Si^'- 18^^), in such words and deeds as make failure to recog- nize its truth a self-judgment passed by each man upon the state of his own conscience or spiritual faculty, as determined by past conduct and motive ( Jn 3"-2i W- -'4, cf. Mk 421-25 II). Thus ' the witness ' of Jesus constituted a 'manifestation' (2" 7* 17®) -within the reach of men independently of intel- lectual capacity, on the sole basis of moral perceptivity and receptivity (see 71®^-, quoted above, cf. 5^"), in which the common folk excelled the learned (Mt U'-S). The real object of such per- ception by nascent moral affinity, the specific revelation in Christ, was the total eflect of Jesus' teaching, what we should style its 'spirit.' To resist this impression by practically judging it evil in nature and origin, was sin against ' the Holy Spirit' at work in the conscience — the most fatal, because the most radical of all sins (Mk 328-30^ jyjj^ 2231). rpj^g ultimate source, then, of insight into the message witnessed and the character of the Messenger as sent of God, especially in the full and perfect sense constituting Him the Messiah (Mk 82''-3''||), was the revealing action of the Father Himself (Mt 16", Jn 5^*2 6« 81^, cf. Mt IP'-), as dis- tinct from all mere human conditions of knowing (cf. Latham, op. cit. 337 f.). The Father Himself Mas the ultimate witness. Not only were Jesus' Morks manifestly God's works (Jn 5^^ 1710) . jjjg ' voice ' gave the final silent confirmation within the conscience ; His ' immanent word ' answered to the word uttered without by His witness ; the vag-uely dim outline of His character or Name was but fulfilled in clearer form in the Name given by and in His witne.ss (Jn 5^^-). And so the ' light ' from within met and recognized the light from without, and rose to the triumphant faith that the Light iiromised to Israel had indeed risen upon it.
iii. General Results.— In all this there seems essential harmony between tlie Synoptics and the Fourth Gospel, though in the latter the emphasis on the inner conditions of insight, and upon the Person of Jesus as summing up the spirit of His own teaching by word and deed, is more marked. In both tyjies of Gospel the educative method * of Jesus appears, even if, from its difterent scope, the Fourth Gospel does not bring this out concretely and progressively, as does the Synoptic narrative by its very nature as a narrative largely con- cerned with the gradual ' training of the TAvelve ' through actual intercourse with their Master. Perhaps we may say that the immediate influence of the Personality of Jesus, through eye and ear, is more apparent in the Synoj^tic account ; while in the Johannine, the universal significance of His ' Person ' as Messianic and Divine is set in relief — as it would be in later Christian experience. But in neither does the knowledge go beyond the scope of the Kingdom of God, the true Sovereignty of the Righteous Father — first its principles, and then its future developments — in close connexion with the destiny of its Founder and Lord, the Messiah, seen in His true character as unique Son of God. It is continuous with the Covenant idea of personal relations between God and His chosen people, and with the Divine name or character revealed iti concixto through those relations, t The
* The wonderfully original and quickening nature of this is analyzed in Latham's Pastor Pastorum as nowhere else, per- haps, not excepting Ecce Homo.
t Cf. Ps 251J RV, ' The secret (counsel) of the Lord is with them that fear him ; and his covenant, to make them know it' (roij hrikSa-a.! ociiTok). Here the LXX inserts reference to 'the name of the Lord' between the parallel clauses, as a third synonym.
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• secret ' or mystery revealed is the more spiritual and less national nature of the Kingdom ; and its essential contents form the New Covenant, which, towards the end of His private teaching to the inner circle of disciples, Jesus declared was destined to be consecrated or sealed in His own life-blood. The emphasis on the connexion between the mes- sage and the Messenger, the Messianic Kingdom and His own Person as Messianic Son of God, increased with the growing opposition encountered ; so that confidence in Himself became the very sheet-anchor of the cause to which He was from the first consecrated. Thus the perspective of the ' teaching ' changes somewhat. The side at first implicit, becomes more and more explicit, especi- ally in the intimate intercourse of Jesus and His inner circle. But there is essential continuity of spirit throughout. Nor is there any esoteric knowledge, in the strict sense, different in kind from the public teaching. The inner side was simply the darker side of difficulty and rejection, that most apt to repel the hearer until his confi- dence in the Master was well grounded. These were ' the mysteries ' * of the Kingdom, if Jesus ever used such an expression (Mt 13^^ Lk 8^", where Mk. has ' the mystery,' and above, p. 702). There was no new ' theology ' in the abstract and Greek sense, as distinct from that of personal relations with man. Accordingly there is in the teaching of Christ no real warrant for the Gnostic develop- ments which began once the Gospel passed from Jewish to Greek soil. It is significant that re- ligious knowledge was not taken in a Gnostic sense among Palestinian Christians (as distinct from the mixed Samaritan type). This implies that Christ's teaching was felt to move within the circle of general Hebrew metaphysics, and not to have any direct knowledge here to convey.